Above Arjun, the floor creaks. He hoists himself out of the hole he's made, breathing hard. The ring is attached to a heavy metal hatch cover. It lies on the floor, barred by rust, with a ladder disappearing into blackness. Arjun lowers a shaky lip over the open pit and shines his light down: cold stone walls lined with old pipes lead to another door far below.
Below him, the atmosphere shifts. In this silence, he hears it again. A voice, identical to the one on 88.7, plain and human: "You buried me." Arjun's heart stops. His mouth goes dry – whom could it mean? The question hangs in the air.
He crawls back and leans the hatch upright. The ladder's slippery with condensation, but he steadies himself. The air smells like earth and rot. Every nerve screams at him to retreat, but he feels pulled. It's as if the whisper is tethering him downward, demanding reckoning.
A spider skitters across the concrete. Arjun shudders at its movement.He hears a muffled scraping above him – footsteps on the old wooden floor. It sounds like someone approaching the opening he made.